Two-man job to rebuild Gordon Brown

The aim of these new arrivals is to kill the image of Brown as the dithering control freak who fusses over every issue

In any court, proximity to the king is the true measure of power. In the time of the Stuarts, courtiers in Whitehall Palace fought each other for the right to be received in the sovereign's bedchamber.

The same principle applies to another Scottish ruler, who reigns over modern-day Whitehall. The visitor who enters the black door of No 10 Downing Street is immediately faced with a long, corridor, lined with modern art. Follow the hall to the end and straight ahead is the nerve centre of the modern state: the cabinet room and next to it the "den". This armchair-lined study is where Tony Blair conducted his "sofa government". Under Gordon Brown, the room remains a key centre of power.

Before reaching the den, just off to the left, is another door. Anyone peering in would see a cramped office with scruffy wallpaper, and probably not give it a second